[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 18]
[House]
[Page 25310]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           STOP ARAB BASHING

  (Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, some of these later speakers have talked 
about religious bigotry, and I think one of the things that if we care 
about what is going on in Iraq, they will stop the Arab bashing. The 
President was smart enough when he used the word ``crusade'' to realize 
that was a serious mistake because it raises issues from thousands of 
years ago.
  On the one hand I agree with condemning Prime Minister Mahathir of 
Malaysia for his anti-Semitic remarks, but one has to use the same 
standard on the general who starts talking about ``our God.'' In 
Ireland, where my family came from, God was on both sides. I do not 
know if the Catholics had him or the Protestants had him. Who is right?
  When Members inject that into this debate, they simply inflame those 
people in the Shiite community and the Sunni community who see us as 
occupiers and destroyers of their religion. That means more people 
attack our people. That creates al Qaeda volunteers. Those are the 
people shooting our troops. Stop it.

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